NOTATIONNICKNAMES169 HANDS

Poker hand names, notation and nicknames

How to read notation such as AKs, T9o and 77, and the nicknames — Pocket Rockets for AA, Big Slick for AK — with this site's equity and rank beside each of the 30 nicknamed hands. The readings of all 169 hands are listed further down.

A nickname says nothing about strength. 72o, "the Hammer" and the byword for the worst hand, has 34.6% against one random hand (rank 165); the actual bottom is 32o at 32.3%. T2o, famous for two straight world titles, sits at 41.7% (rank 135), below the middle of the list (J6s, 50.6%).

Notation

Two ranks plus s or o

On a 13×13 grid the diagonal holds the pairs, the upper right the suited hands and the lower left the offsuit ones. Rows are the higher card, columns the lower.

Written	Meaning	Combinations	Of the 169
77	Two of the same rank (pocket pair)	6	13
AKs	s = suited (same suit)	4	78
AKo	o = offsuit (different suits)	12	78
AK	No letter = both together	16	—
T	10 (Ten), one character like J, Q, K, A	—	—

Nicknames

22 hands with a nickname

Equity is against one random hand (exact enumeration). Where a nickname covers both suited and offsuit, both are shown.

Hand	Nickname	Equity	Rank	Origin
AA	Pocket Rockets	85.2%	1	The A shapes look like rockets; also "American Airlines" from the initials
KK	Cowboys	82.4%	2	The kings as two men on horseback
QQ	Ladies	79.9%	3	Two queens, two ladies
JJ	Fishhooks (Hooks)	77.5%	4	The J looks like a fishhook
TT	Dimes	75.0%	5	A dime is a ten-cent coin
99	Wayne Gretzky	72.1%	6	The ice hockey player's jersey number
88	Snowmen	69.2%	7	Each 8 looks like a snowman
77	Hockey Sticks	66.2%	9	Each 7 looks like a hockey stick
66	Route 66	63.3%	17	The US highway
55	Speed Limit	60.3%	27	The old 55 mph US speed limit; also "Nickels"
44	Sailboats	57.0%	48	Each 4 looks like a sail
33	Crabs	53.7%	66	Each 3 looks like a crab
22	Ducks	50.3%	87	Each 2 looks like a duck
AKs / AKo	Big Slick	67.0% / 65.3%	8 / 12	Big, but slippery: it needs to hit to win
AQs / AQo	Big Chick	66.2% / 64.4%	10 / 14	Big Slick's little sibling; also "Little Slick"
AJs / AJo	Blackjack	65.4% / 63.6%	11 / 15	Ace plus Jack is a blackjack
KQs / KQo	Marriage (Royal Couple)	63.4% / 61.5%	16 / 23	The king and queen as a couple
KJs / KJo	Kojak	62.6% / 60.6%	20 / 26	Sounds like K-J; the TV detective
K9s / K9o	Canine (K9)	60.0% / 57.8%	29 / 40	K9 sounds like canine
J5s / J5o	Jackson Five	50.0% / 47.2%	90 / 107	Jack plus five, after the band
T2s / T2o	Doyle Brunson	44.8% / 41.7%	118 / 135	Brunson won the world championship main event two years running holding T2
72o	The Hammer	34.6%	165	The byword for the worst hand; winning with it is a beat-down

All 169

How each of the 169 hands is said

Grouped by the higher card. Tap a hand for its equity page.

A-high (25)

K-high (23)

Q-high (21)

J-high (19)

T-high (17)

9-high (15)

8-high (13)

7-high (11)

6-high (9)

5-high (7)

4-high (5)

3-high (3)

2-high (1)

22Pocket Twos

Hand rankings and odds →Outs and the rule of 4 and 2 →Probability tables →Equity calculator →All 169 hands ranked →

FAQ

What do the s and o in AKs and AKo mean?

s is suited (both cards share a suit) and o is offsuit. AKs covers 4 concrete combinations, AKo 12, and a pair such as AA 6. Of the 169 hands, 13 are pairs, 78 suited and 78 offsuit.

What does T stand for?

Ten. Writing it as T keeps every hand to two characters: JT is jack-ten, T9s is ten-nine suited.

Is 72o (the Hammer) the worst hand?

Against one random hand it has 34.6% equity, rank 165 of 169; the bottom is 32o at 32.3%. 72o earns its reputation in multiway pots, where it can barely make a straight or a flush.

How strong is Big Slick (AK)?

AKs is 67.0% (rank 8) and AKo 65.3% (rank 12). It is the best unpaired hand, but it has to pair up to win, so it is close to a coinflip against even a small pair like 22.